After much time in the lab, these research projects finally saw the light. In the Ahmanson Ballroom in the Harper Center at Creighton University, 126 students presented their findings as part of the annual St. Albert’s Day on April 12. While those students discussed their posters with visitors, down the hall, 27 students gave oral presentations on varying topics.

Projects ranged from biology to cultural studies to psychology. From 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., students of all different majors explained months of research to attendees. Scholarship recipients of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Scholarship, known as CURAS, were distinguished with a ribbon on their poster presentation.

Below are four students who presented their research posters for St. Albert’s Day. For a full list of student presentations, posters and projects, click here.

Project: “The Effect of Alcohol Consumption on Fracture Healing Times”Student: Blake TitteringtonClass year: Second YearCollege or School: School of Medicine Previous studies have shown that alcoholics are at a higher risk for a fracture upon injury. Titterington looked at patient data from the CHI Health Creighton University Medical Center (CUMC) trauma registry to determine if this risk would show in a higher population size. By looking at 398 patients, with a range of backgrounds, he found that there is no significant difference between alcohol consumption and fracture healing times. As an undergraduate at Loyola Marymount University, Titterington never participated in a research day like St. Albert’s. This year, he wanted to get involved. “There’s a wider breadth of different projects here,” Titterington said.

Project: “The Effects of PPARGamma Agonist on the Stereolical Assessment of the Hippocampus and Hypothalamus in an Epileptic Model”Student: Sara Knowles, Clare Booth Luce scholarClass year: JuniorCollege or School: College of Arts and SciencesMajor: Biology While epilepsy affects three million in the United States, nearly 30 percent of those people do not respond to drug therapy. People who have epilepsy often have sleep problems. Knowles looked at differences between brain cells in the hypothalamic region to see if sleep problems come from a change in cell numbers. She found that there is no reason to suggest that a difference in cell numbers would correlate to sleep problems. Knowles plans to continue this research in the summer with a genetic focus. “[St. Albert’s Day] is a good venue for my first presentation. You get to see what others are doing,” Knowles said.

Project: “Emotion Regulation Difficulties Moderate Induced Negative Affect and Drinking Urges”Student: Pallavi Aurora, CURAS Faculty Research FundClass year: SeniorCollege or School: College of Arts and SciencesMajor: Psychology Studies have shown that after a negative experience, alcohol consumption increases. Aurora surveyed college students to see how their mood was associated with alcohol consumption. In the survey, students were asked how much attention they paid to their feelings. After the survey, Aurora found that support that increased drinking urges are directly related to negative emotions. However, she found that fewer people reported drinking than previous national studies, a limitation she attributes to the lab setting. Aurora hopes to use this information to reduce alcohol related incidents and help with intervention by creating a survey with personalized feedback for each subject. She says St. Albert’s day is “a great outlet to present research.”

Project: “The Influence of Women’s Social Movements on the Creation of Laws Against Gender Violence in Buenos Aires, Argentina”Student: Katie McClaveClass year: SeniorCollege or School: College of Arts and SciencesMajor: Anthropology The feminist movement in Argentina was slightly behind the rest of the world, beginning only in the 1980s. With the creation of the Law of Protection, women are speaking out against gender violence. McClave worked with Argentinian organizations to see how they were addressing violence against women. She found that Argentina has no nation-wide statistics about gender-violence and that these laws are rarely enforced. McClave pursued this research while studying abroad in Buenos Aires in the spring of 2015. Having previously done research about sexual assaults, she was interested in women’s rights in Argentina.